With a packed program, timely topic, and spectactular setting, the 2014 biennial meeting of the Conference on Faith and History — on “Christian Historians & Their Publics” — was bound to be a good one, even better than CFH 2012. If anything, it exceeded expectations. Wenham, MA was nice, but I think this is where God meant … More CFH 2014: Teaching and Public Memory
Later today I’ll be flying to southern California to join fellow members of the Conference on Faith and History (CFH) at its biennial meeting, held this year on the lovely campus of Pepperdine University. Now, I’d be excited simply to exchange the weather of St. Paul, MN for that of Malibu, CA for a couple days, … More Headed to the Conference on Faith and History!
The last two days I was honored to take part in a Christian College Consortium (CCC) gathering at Wheaton College. Our delegation from Bethel was assigned to help lead the Tuesday morning discussion, of what it means for colleges and universities to stay Christ-centered. I’m grateful to our president, Jay Barnes, for inviting me to prepare some remarks stemming from … More Staying Christ-Centered: A Pietist Perspective (My Remarks to the Christian College Consortium)
Today I’m happy to present a guest post on J. S. Bach and Pietism. It comes from Chuck King, visiting assistant professor of music at Trinity International University, where he teaches courses in music and worship and music history, as well as directing the Symphonic Band. He has three decades of experience as a pastoral minister … More Bach and Pietism (Chuck King)
On Friday morning I sent back the index and corrected proofs for The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons; Friday afternoon I opened our mail to find said book gracing the pages of InterVarsity Press’ new titles announcement for Winter 2015. And then here it is at the IVP website. I’m … More Now Available for Preorder: The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education!
Among the many people to whom I recommended Ed Gilbreath’s new book this summer were colleagues and students in Bethel University’s Christianity and Western Culture (CWC) course. While that course effectively ends its narrative around 1800 (I go as far as the British parliament abolishing the slave trade in 1807) and we barely touch on U.S. history, the … More Birmingham Revolution: Not Everyone’s a Prophet
From this past June: my three-part attempt to explain my little-known, fast-growing denomination, and why it’s so distinctive. This past June I flew from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Chicago, where I represented my congregation at Gather ’14, the annual meeting of our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. “What’s the Evangelical Covenant Church?” at least one person just asked. … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: What’s the Evangelical Covenant Church?
Another year, another new college ranking system: Using unique measures of educational quality, affordability, and career outcomes, MONEY’s new value rankings will help you and your child find the right school at the right price. I guess whatever Forbes, Washington Monthly, and the Chronicle of Higher Education can do, Money can do better. (Certainly better than U.S. News.) And, for what it’s … More How Christian Colleges Fare in the New Rankings from Money Magazine
We’ll conclude this week of reruns with the first of two May 2014 posts inspired by a convocation talk at Bethel University by journalist Krista Tippett, host of the acclaimed public radio program On Being and recent winner of the National Humanities Medal. …Tippett’s talk drew on her recent book, Einstein’s God: Conversations about Science and the Human Spirit, and … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Two (or Three) Why’s of History
Today’s “best of” post comes from late April. It came to mind because I’ll be spending today and tomorrow doing exactly the kind of work that puts me at risk of what Parker Palmer called “functional atheism… the unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: When I’m a “Functional Atheist”
The Pietist Schoolman 